Global warming” a serious threat to humanity ‘

World leaders opened climate conference Monday in Paris to reach an agreement on legally binding reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in order to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius(35.6 degrees Farenheit) – the critical number identified by scientists. .

About 150 leaders, along with 40.000 delegates from 195 countries are taking part in the two-week conference , called COP2, to tackle climate change on a global political level, according to CNN.

The leaders of the main players necessary to achieve the ambitious goal because when global warming climbs beyond 2 decree Celsius , the earth’s land, food and water supply would be harmed, endangering the planet’s population.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called climate change “one of the greatest threats humanity is facing.”

 “Russia not only prevented the increase of greenhouse emissions, it has reduced them,” he said, promising a 70% reduction in emissions from 1990 levels by 2030.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a “comprehensive, equitable and durable agreement that leads us to restore balance between humanity and nature.”

CBS reported that the meeting goes by several names – the United Nations Climate Summit, the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, or COP21, which stands for the 21st meeting of the Conference of Parties that are part of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change. The first COP meeting took place in Berlin in 1995, and the most famous of these was COP3, which resulted in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Planet warmed by 0.85 degrees Celsius

It quoted the 2014 intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) as saying that  the planet has already warmed by 0.85 degrees Celsius from 1880 to 2012 and could increase by another 1.5 to 4 degrees by the end of the century, compared to 1850.

Promising talks

Timmons Roberts, a senior fellow in Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution, said the Paris negotiations are promising because now people can see the effects of climate change in their lives: they feel the hotter, longer summers; “spring comes earlier, and major weather events are becoming more frequent,” he said.

Experts are less certain the countries will be able to reach an agreement on how to finance the fight against climate change. At previous meetings, the richer countries pledged $100 billion by 2020 to help poorer countries move away from carbon-fueled growth.

Basma Qaddour